Monday, December 13, 2004

Proof that I am indeed a Domestic Engineer.
There is a downside to trying to clean. Aside from the normal downside of it being work, here is what I just discovered today. As you may know if you're stalking me via my blog, I have 'vacuum the bedroom' on my to-do list for today.

I needed to vacuum behind the dresser. Not only are there the normal dustbunnies etc there, but one of the kids dropped a whole deck of playing cards (52 pickup, anyone?) behind there. I tried using the vacuum cleaner attachment to pick up the cards. It was working great, once I adjusted the suction so the vacuum cleaner wouldn't be so intense about everything...

....until it got hold of a clear comic book bag. Whooompzzz! A very cool sound, actually - better than a lot of stuff I hear on the radio. But argh, too late, it was already in there. Stuck in the hose. Waaaay stuck in the hose. The hose doesn't detach.

Well I have a household hint for this that even Heloise never thought of. I took my FlyLady feather duster and put packing tape on the end of it (the wood handle) and put the tape on so it would be sticky at the end. After using the flashlight to identify the comic book bag in the hose, I carefully eased it down the hose until it hit the bag. I then wiggled it around to get it stuck pretty well.

It worked amazingly well and all is right with the world again.

I think I can just forget about filling out that Bissell warranty card.